Coach Steve Kerr calls shooting of Donald Trump ‘demoralizing’ for Team USA

The political landscape in the United States is enduring one of its darkest moments in history after presidential candidate Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania this weekend. As Team USA is preparing for the upcoming Olympic Games at the end of the month, coach Steve Kerr called the situation “a demoralizing day for our country.”

The men’s national basketball tactician couldn’t help but show his true disappointment after this weekend’s incidents, using words as “terrible” when trying to describe what this means to the nation and his players. “This is a time where we feel very proud to represent our country wearing USA on our chest, competing in the Olympics,” Kerr said.

“We’ve talked to the players about how important it is to show the best version of us as human beings to represent our country in a respectful, dignified manner. It makes you want to do that even more so, because this is really shameful for us to sit here and think about what happened and what’s going on in our country,” he added.

Team USA coach Steve Kerr says it's a "terrible" and "demoralizing day for our country" in wake of Trump shooting: https://t.co/uJVZr1o1LC

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 14, 2024

Steve is no stranger to criticizing gun violence, especially as his own father Malcolm was assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon, back in 1984. His dad had been targeted by the militant group called Islamic Jihad while he served as the president of the American University of Beirut.

“It’s such a demoralizing day for our country, and it’s yet another example of not only our political division but also gun culture,” Kerr continued. “A 20-year-old with an AR-15 trying to shoot the former president. It’s hard to process everything, and it’s scary to think about where this goes because of the issues that already exist in the country. So this is a terrible day.”

Despite the horrors lived in Pennsylvania this weekend, the Team USA coach was grateful as things could’ve turned out even worse. “Thank God Trump wasn’t hit, but it’s just so demoralizing in every which way,” he assured.

The former president posted on his own social media platform, revealing he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania this Saturday. The next morning, the FBI identified the suspected criminal as 20-year-old Thomas Mathew Crooks.

Steph Curry also addressed the incident by calling it “a very sad time in general” and says the nation has a lot to correct in order to succeed

While the FBI says that “this remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the rest of Team USA’s players and coaches talked to the press about what happened at the Republican rally. Stephen Curry was the first athlete to confront the microphone and explained why there still has a lot to improve in order to succeed as a nation.

“It’s obviously a very sad time in general,” said the Warriors superstar. “All the conversations around the election and the state of politics in our country, and then you have a situation like this, which just [evokes] a lot of emotions around things that we need to correct as a people.”

“Obviously, gun control first and foremost, because the fact that that’s even possible for somebody to have an attack like that. But just more so you want to [see] positivity and hope. It sounds cheesy, but it’s real. That’s when our country’s at its best, and it just adds another blemish to what’s going on. So sad is just the word,” he insisted.

On the other hand, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Martin Strong assured that the team will remain in the Middle East this week before competing against Australia and Serbia this week as they prepare for Paris.